RAIL and Metro developments in several parts of England are among the principal beneficiaries of Local Growth Fund deals announced by the government on 7 July, it has emerged. 

Detailed study of the documentation has revealed that much of the investment in the West Midlands alone, over £300 million, will be for links with HS2 – including a second Birmingham city centre tram route from New Street station to the Curzon HS2 terminus and then to Adderley Park station, and a further extension of Midland Metro trams from New Street to Edgbaston.

There is cash, too, for a major new transport interchange in Wolverhampton, including another extension of Midland Metro, and an enhancement of Birmingham Snow Hill station – as well as interchange improvements at University and Kidderminster stations, plus expansion at Coventry. This includes a bay platform for Nuneaton services and upgrading the line between Coventry and Nuneaton.

The government’s announcements came just days after approval was given to a massive £100 million expansion of the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal, served by the West Coast Main Line near Rugby.

Cash is also promised in the Local Growth Fund deals for a mid-Cannock road/rail freight interchange, part of a regeneration programme in East Staffordshire.

Elsewhere, Manchester will get 12 additional vehicles for the Metrolink tram network – and a 1km busway on disused railway land to improve services to Bolton and Walkden stations.

Blackpool’s famous tram route from Fleetwood is to be extended to Blackpool North station.

Cornwall will gain a ‘West Cornwall Transport Interchange’ at St Erth and from early investment, paid for by Cornwall Council, to bring forward signalling improvements so that more frequent services can operate sooner than planned.

Night Riviera rolling stock will be refurbished and sleeper maintenance facilities transferred to Penzance. These will replace the existing depot at Old Oak Common, part of the site of the West London HS2 interchange with Crossrail.

There is also commitment to spending along the Thames Valley linked with stations to be served by Crossrail, including Iver, Taplow and Maidenhead, and a bus-based rapid transit system that will connect with Crossrail at Slough station.

The government has also confirmed commitment to a new rail link from the Great Western Main Line east of Slough to Heathrow Terminal 5 ‘to enhance access to Heathrow airport from Thames Valley and the West’. Network Rail aims to begin construction in April 2017 with completion by December 2021.

The government has also published terms of reference for a study of a new southern rail access to Heathrow airport, which is due to report next summer.

In Reading there will be a new park-and-ride station at Green Park on the Basingstoke line, which is being electrified, and the government also said it has made provisional commitment for ‘mass rapid transit projects’ in Reading as part of a series of priority schemes to start after 2016/17.

These Thames Valley projects are intended to support the regeneration of town centres in Berkshire and provision of approximately 24,000 new houses by 2026.

Additional deals involving the Thames Valley and the Oxford-Bedford East West Railway project are aimed at boosting access to ‘key employment sites’ at Pinewood Studios (via Iver) and Silverstone (via Winslow), and for bus and cycle links between Buckingham and Winslow.

Elsewhere, the government has given provisional approval for completing trans-Pennine electrification from Selby to Hull, and in Bristol there is cash for Phases 1 and 2 of MetroWest – providing half-hourly cross-Bristol train services, including reopening the Portishead and Henbury lines.

In Worcestershire, funding is agreed to develop plans for the proposed Worcester Parkway station and a study is to be made of possible frequency and journey time improvements between Worcester and London.

Other improvements to be examined include more frequent services between Nottingham, Newark and Lincoln and possible reconnection of the March-Wisbech route in Cambridgeshire.

**The government’s Local Growth Fund deals amounting to £6 billion include spending on transport, infrastructure and skills development. The deals are based on proposals put forward by the 39 English Local Enterprise Partnerships or LEPs, comprising representatives of business and local authorities.